THE excitement in Doughiska, a small suburb in Co Galway, is palpable as they wait for the winner of the €4m lotto jackpot to be revealed.

Pat Joyce, owner of Joyce’s Supermarket where the ticket was sold, said that there is a “great buzz”, as the town waits to see which of their neighbours has become a quadruple millionaire.

The huge win, which came in the same night that another lucky punter in Longford scooped €1m, has led to speculation in the town about who the lucky winner could be.

“There’s great excitement, an absolute buzz,” Mr Joyce said.

“We’re delighted to have sold the winning ticket. Now, we have no idea who actually bought it.

“There’s a lot of speculation as to who it is. We don’t know whether it’s a syndicate or not. We’re sort of hoping that it is so that it will spread around. There would be a bit of craic and a bit of slagging going on.

“People saying, ‘oh it’s you, you’ve come to collect,’ but the person with the tickets hasn’t come to collect yet. Whatever way it’ll go, it’ll go, so fair play to the winners who ever they are, it’s great overall.”

The Lotto jackpot ticket, worth €4,051,610, was the fifth winner sold in Co Galway so far in 2019.  The winning numbers were 9, 10, 34, 37, 40, 47 and the bonus number was 7.

While the individual, or syndicate owner of the ticket will enjoy the undivided jackpot, that was nearly not the case. A Lotto player in Longford came close to sharing the €4m, matching five of the six regular numbers and the bonus. This player, who bought their ticket at O’Brien’s Corner House on Lanesboro Road still scooped €238,673.

Meanwhile, a second lucky player woke up a millionaire, as an Offaly Lotto player also scooped a cool €1m after winning the Lotto Plus 1 top prize.

The winning numbers for that Quick Pick ticket, sold in the Spar Maxol store and service station on Church Road, Tullamore were 3, 25, 28, 34, 42, 27 and the bonus was 11.

The National Lottery is appealing to its Lotto players in Galway, Offaly and Longford to check their tickets. This advise was echoed by Mr Joyce, who warned the winner not to accidentally dispose of their tickets.

“We encourage customers to check their tickets and make sure they don’t throw it in the bin,” he laughed.

“€4m is a lot of money and it’s been a while since a big win has come to the West, so it’s a great buzz.”

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